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New Bernie Madoff Interview: Predicts Victims Will Come Out Ahead

Bernie Madoff was recently interviewed in prison by Financial Times. Like always, he takes full responsibility and insists none of his family members were involved. He says his illegal activity began in the 90's. The trustee has said Bernie's illegal activities began in the 80's. He also predicts the trustee will not only recover all the principal invested by the victims, but some profits as well:

“I said at the very beginning when I met with the SEC and Picard that my hope is that everyone will receive their principal [which amounts to $20bn]. Back then, everyone laughed. But [Picard] has already recovered $10bn and he will cover $20bn easily. If he is successful, he may get $50bn. That means that there will be $30bn profits to go around, which would make me one of the greatest money managers in modern history.”

[More...]

Bernie says the trustee will get a big settlement from J.P. Morgan because bank employees knew what was going on. J.P. Morgan emphatically denies this. He also predicts trouble for UBS and HSBC. Both banks deny having any knowledge of Madoff's fraud.

Bernie says he has been contacted by business schools for help with ethics courses. He works 7 hours a day, four days a week, manning the register in the prison commissary or prison general store. As he puts it, he's still in the money management business.

He's taking anti-depressants. His wife is mad at him and they have little contact. His son won't speak to him (his other son committed suicide a few months ago, but Bernie still talks about him in the present tense.) He loves reading Danielle Steele romance novels. He likes his roommate and the guards are polite to him.

Bernie says he wants to help Trustee Picard recover funds for the victims. They haven't met yet. But he's not going to help prosecutors build criminal cases.

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  • Display: Sort:
    LoL (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by NYShooter on Sat Apr 09, 2011 at 07:46:47 PM EST
    "...$30bn profits to go around..."

    Is he taking new accounts in.........what prison was that?

    Bernie might be right (none / 0) (#2)
    by diogenes on Sun Apr 10, 2011 at 03:01:29 PM EST
    The government might just extort enough from the big banks to make Madoff's scheme end up as a profit (unlike investors in real estate, many of whom are still under water.)